Join us online to watch the film "The Amazing Grace" by Jeta Amata, a Nigerian filmmaker, released in 2006. This film is not available on streaming. After we watch the film there will be a discussion.

About the film:

The film is a feature film (not a documentary) about British slave trading in Nigeria in the mid-1700s. It shows the capture of local people, imprisonment, and conditions on the slave ships from a Nigerian perspective. Parts of the film are in native Nigerian languages with English subtitles.

The song "Amazing Grace" comes originally from Nigeria. Some say the melody came from the Calabar region in Nigeria and was sung by the Ibibio and Eket people.
John Newton, a British slave trader, heard the song in Nigeria and later added English texts to the melody.

The film is part of the Nigerian "Nollywood" film industry, which has made thousands of films and is one of the biggest film industries in the world today.
Nollywood films are often very emotional, and "The Amazing Grace" is no exception. No holds barred.

Watch the trailer:

RSVP for the connection information.

Please join Germany Black Caucus Chair, Derek Bembry, and International Black Caucus Chair Angela Fobbs for lunch at Zum Achter. We had originally planned a brunch, but with the amount of interest, and the addition of a presentation, we've had to change venues (and therefore meals).

This lunch is a chance for you to meet Derek and Angela, and learn about what the Black Caucus is doing in Germany, especially for the 2020 election. Derek's presentation will focus primarily on increasing voter turnout by focusing on youth and black voters. He will point out the opportunity in each voter segment as well as issues that appeal to both.

Zum Achter is located just over the Neckar from Bismarckplatz. Public transportation access is good, Bismarckplatz is only ~5 mins by foot. Also, the bus stop Bergstraße is directly in front of the building (bus line 34). If you’re driving, the parking garage Parkhaus Brückenkopf Neuenheim is adjacent to the restaurant.

Books Abroad Reads Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye

A titan of literature passed away in August 2019. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, era-defining writer, and editor, mentor, professor, activist, and social critic—there are few individuals who have transformed American literature and culture like Toni Morrison.

Together with the Global Black Caucus, the Books Abroad organizers warmly invite you to join us in reading and discussing Morrison’s revolutionary novel The Bluest Eye. In her 2007 forward to the book, Morrison explains that in this work, she examines “how something as grotesque as the demonization of an entire race could take root inside the most delicate member of society: a child; the most vulnerable member: a female.” During our discussion, we will tackle issues of cultural aesthetics, intersections of race and gender, and the ongoing struggle for black female voices to be heard.

We look forward to celebrating both the incredible work and woman with you on Sunday, February 9, 2020, at 7:30 a.m. EST/1:30 p.m. CET on WebEx.

Meeting time:

7:30 a.m. – Toronto/Washington D.C.

12:30 p.m. – London

1:30 p.m. – Paris/Berlin

2:30 p.m. – Prague/Rome

4:30 p.m. – Dubai

8:30 p.m. – Beijing

9:30 p.m. – Tokyo

Please RSVP to receive the information to join this online meeting.

Brave New Films has produced a new documentary short  Suppressed: The Fight to Vote. 

This film exposes rampant voter suppression that affected the outcome of the 2018 midterm election in Georgia and the threat it poses to our elections all across the nation in 2020. During the 2018 midterms, millions of voters experienced suppression due to voter roll purges, poll closures, long lines of over 4 hours, missing absentee ballots, and strict voter ID laws that disproportionately prevented black and brown citizens from their constitutional right to vote. 

The race in 2018 was finally decided by 54,723 votes and Surpressed reveals that basic constitutional suffrage in America remains under pressure.

Given what is at stake in 2020, the effort to prevent people voting will be fierce! We've been here before and we can stop it!

For this event, DAG partnered with the Mainz cinema Cinémayence. The movie theater is located on the first floor of the baroque Schönborner Hof in a central location on Schillerplatz. It is a guest of the French Cultural Institute - hence the French name ("Mayence" = French for Mainz).
The schedule of the cinema is designed with cultural aspects in mind. The program offers mainly international films. Like most of the films in Cinemayence, Surpressed has never been shown in Mainz before.

Join us in the discussion after the screening to learn how the Republicans will crack down on voting rights in 2020 and what you can do. Non-Democrats Abroad members and non-US citizens are welcome and the discription of the film is in German in the Cinémayence program.

There will be a discussion after the screening lead by Sarah A Wagner. Wagner studied Political Science, English and Educational Science at the University of Trier and the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Since 2015, she is the Education Manager at the Atlantic Academy Rheinland-Pfalz. Her research focus lies on the Democratic Party, civil-military relations and transatlantic relations.

Democrats Abroad voter registration experts will assist Americans living in Germany register to vote and request your ballot for the 2020 election. 

Tickets are 5€ and can be purchased at the theater's box office, opens at 19:45. 

We hope to see you there!

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My name is Robyn T. Emerson; I’m the lead country coordinator for Kenya and Co-Chair of the Black Caucus here. I have traveled, studied, or worked in every corner of the United States, with my last port-of-call and my voting district being Austin, Texas.   I am proud to say I have knocked on thousands of doors, managed hundreds of phone banks, did hundreds of advance work, coordinated hundreds of rides to polls all for the belief in collective power and justice prevailing. I’ve now lived in Kenya for over ten years, where creating communities and empowering people continues.

I’m an urban planner and a consummate organizer.  People of color, more specifically people of African descent, are staggering in the life-affirming statistics and leading in the life-threatening statistics.  Despite this, we keep rising; we keep singing, we keep fighting.

Living in what #45 considers a sh**hole country and the U.S. clamping down on immigration and refugee permissions out of nationalism and racism, I can not stand for its continuance another moment.  With brilliant Americans living in Kenya, we aim to make our voices known and count on issues impacting African Americans. We’ve coined this 13-months to Change, being inspired by the 13th amendment. We will continue community socializing, sharing information, and taking action as a community of African-Americans.  We will make a concerted effort to cast the net wider by having monthly meet-ups, connecting the dots between oppression & discrimination here to the experience on the same of our people in the U.S. We stand in solidarity for dignity, freedom, and justice for everyone. We will exercise our rights afforded to us...voting is our top emphasis. I hope you will join us in exploring, learning, and growing.

If you would like to join the DA Kenya Global Black Caucus, just click the join button on our homepage. Everyone is welcome, and I look forward to meeting up, discussing important issues, and winning some important seats with you!

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Mississippi: African American voters sue over election law rooted in the state's racist past

Gideon Cohn-Postar, Northwestern University

A lawsuit over a Mississippi election law, if successful, will change the way that state elects its governor.

Four African Americans filed the federal civil rights lawsuit in May 2019, charging that the way their state elects its statewide officials violates the Voting Rights Act, the 14th Amendment and the principle of “one-person, one-vote.”

To win election, a candidate for governor of Mississippi has to win an outright majority of the popular vote – and win a majority of the state’s 122 House districts.

If no candidate does both, the state House gets to select the next governor, regardless of who got the most votes. No African American has been elected statewide since 1890.

Republican legislators in Mississippi defended the law by arguing that the plaintiffs provide “nothing more than conjecture” that they would be harmed by this election method.

Media coverage of the lawsuit has emphasized that “no Mississippi candidate who won the most votes for a statewide office has been prevented from taking office because of the other requirements.”

As a historian of 19th-century voting rights in the U.S., I believe this analysis ignores the history of anti-democratic gubernatorial election laws.

Today, Mississippi is one of only two states where the winner of the popular vote does not automatically become governor. Vermont is the other. In the 19th century, however, many states had such laws.

The damage that these laws did to democratic legitimacy and political stability in the 1870s, ‘80s and '90s was not conjecture. These laws were intended to entrench the rule of the party in power.

This November, Mississippi is preparing for its first close gubernatorial election since 1999. The election law that is the focus of the lawsuit could decide who wins. Its origins and the track record of similar laws in more competitive states bear investigation.

The Global Black Caucus seeks to raise the consciousness of our current and potential constituency. To that end, we are looking for our first Poet Laureate (volunteer) for the 2020 election cycle. The Poet Laureate will be selected annually for a term that lasts from January to December. Poetry selections will be featured on the GBC page of the DA website throughout the selected Poet Laureate's term.

 The person selected would:

• Create a Poetry Series to explore societal issues and the 2020 elections through poetry's focused lens to describe “truth,” or at the very least, “truths,” in our world.
• They will be called upon to write poetry on significant occasions and throughout the election season.
• Poems should also encourage people to vote, volunteer, or donate. 
• It would be great if the person selected would like to make multimedia/spoken word videos or other visual media.
• Occasionally, meet with the GBC Steering Committee.

 The poet must be a member of Democrats Abroad and a member of the GBC. Any member of Democrats Abroad who supports universal, unconditional human rights can join the GBC.

Join Democrats Abroad

Join the Global Black Caucus 

It is really important for everyone to read the Mueller Report.  Although the report is redacted, there is more than enough information to understand what happened.

After the 22-month probe, Mueller broke down his findings into two parts. Volume I of the report concludes that Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election occurred "in a sweeping and systematic fashion" and "violated U.S. criminal law". Volume II of the report addresses the obstruction of justice. 

Key points of the Mueller Report:

• Mueller did not exonerate the President of the United States of obstruction of justice,
• Obstruction of justice is a serious crime that strikes at the core of our justice system,
• And the Constitution points to Congress to take action to hold the President accountable.

Listed below are just a few options for reading the Mueller Report. There are many sources where you can obtain a copy of the report. Please use the options you are comfortable with. The most important thing is that you read the report.

Connect with the Global Black Caucus:

	democratsabroad.org/bc
	blackcaucus@democratsabroad.org
	Facebook.com/DemsabroadGBC/
	@DemsAbroadGBC
	GBC Power to the People Podcast is available on iTunes and Podomatic
	https://www.instagram.com/demsabroadgbc/
	https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9eAPLAZHh7FirJD4ET6yJg
	https://wiki.democratsabroad.org/display/BlackC/Black+Caucus+Wiki+Home

Find out how to start a Black Caucus in your country committee here.

Summer is a time for drift, for lapping waters, sipped cocktails, and rambling walks. One day it’s lobster rolls and white wine. The next day could be Andalusian gazpacho and Dos Equis. The weekend might bring Mul Naengmyeon (cold noodle soup) and Soju. And as your choice of food and entertainment varies with the temperature and your ebbing and flowing lethargy, so may your taste in books.

The lengthening days and piercing sunshine of summertime is the perfect time to crack open that book you might not otherwise read, you may have forgotten about, or that is low on your decades-long list of “must-reads.” And in this spirit, below you will find ten quirky, fun, intriguing memoirs and novels to while away a few of those precious summer hours. Enjoy!

Mycroft Holmes by Kareem Abdul-Jabar Paperback: 336 pages Publisher: Titan Books ISBN-10: 1783291540

Fight off a sense of slacker-hood as you dive into this delightful mystery by screenwriter Anna Waterhouse and beloved former NBA star Kareem Abdul-Jabar. Mycroft Holmes is the lesser known but equally brilliant older brother of the infamous Sherlock, and we are introduced to him at the beginning of his illustrious investigative career. Abdul-Jabar also introduces us to Cyrus Douglas, a black man of Trinidadian descent, an intrepid cigar shop owner, and Mycroft’s best friend. The two men head to Cyrus’ homeland to solve a mystery which includes strange disappearances and spirits that lure children to their deaths; their bodies found drained of blood.

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah Paperback: 304 pages Publisher: Spiegel & Grau ISBN-10: 0399588191

I approached this memoir with light expectations. Noah is charming and funny on his cable talk show the Daily Show, and although bright, I wasn’t expecting James McBride. But I was pleasantly surprised. “Born a Crime” is funny and poignant and feminist as AF. Noah loves his country and his mama, and he lovingly writes about both as he offers sharp tidbits of South African history along with wild stories of his childhood as a poor, mixed-race child under Apartheid.